Rolling Down the Ryburn

Now you've heard the songs that I love to sing, the tunes I like to play Well, it's some of them I wrote me self, others met along the way They're all friends to keep me company until my dying day I'll be rolling down the Ryburn in the morning And the stories in your newspapers, some (fair) and some are lies For it's working folk who suffer as the businessman denies But through poverty and scandal, I have a will to stay alive It keeps me rolling down the Ryburn in the morning And there's a lot more songs I'd like to sing if only I could stay But I must be headed homeward, perhaps another day For the road that I must travel lies across the Pennine Way I'll be rolling down the Ryburn in the morning And I'll never be a wealthy man, though I've never courted fame Soon too old to be the rising star, always miss the game Or please maybe you'll remember my music and my name As I go rolling down the Ryburn in the morning And I've travelled roads in Holland through the bitter wintertime I've spent springtime days in Flanders, I've spent summer down the Rhine But when autumn is approaching, it's then I have a mind To go rolling down the Ryburn in the morning And there's a lot more songs I'd like to sing if only I could stay But I must be headed homeward, perhaps another day For the road that I must travel lies across the Pennine Way I'll be rolling down the Ryburn in the morning Now, of friends in far off places and times that I've enjoyed I've seen more than seven wonders, I've seen images destroyed For tonight you'll find me working, tomorrow unemployed I'll be rolling down the Ryburn in the morning Now I'm not sentimental, nostalgia I disdain Those good old days are with us, I am the first one to complain There's no sense in looking backwards, it's the moral that keeps me sane It keeps me rolling down the Ryburn in the morning And there's a lot more songs I'd like to sing if only I could stay But I must be headed homeward, perhaps another day For the road that I must travel lies across the Pennine Way I'll be rolling down the Ryburn in the morning Now it's miles upon the motorway, the dawn before me still Through the sleepy towns and villages and the mists upon the hill There's reflections in the reservoir, there's shadows on the mill As I go rolling down the Ryburn in the morning And I hope my engine's faithful and my headlamps they burn bright For there's many a musician who never made it through the night Oh, so spare a thought for travellers as you turn out your light Keep us rolling down the Ryburn in the morning And there's a lot more songs I'd like to sing if only I could stay But I must be headed homeward, perhaps another day For the road that I must travel lies across the Pennine Way I'll be rolling down the Ryburn I'll be rolling down the Ryburn I'll be rolling down the Ryburn in the morning